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Carmen Canales  00:03Hello, I'm Carmen Canales, Senior Vice President and Chief People and Belonging Officer at Novant Health. Welcome to Talent Talk, a podcast that focuses on leadership strategies for engagement, development, and retention for the modern workforce. In each episode of Talent Talk, I'll interview a different leader about their transformational practices in leading teams in support of our patients and our communities. These conversations will leave you with a few key takeaways and actions you can put into place on your own teams. Our guest today is Dr. David priest, Senior Vice President of Safety, Quality, and Epidemiology at Novant Health. Welcome, Dr. Priest. Dr. David Priest  00:52Thank you, Carmen, excited to be here. Carmen Canales  00:54Dr. Priest, will you tell us a little bit about yourself and your journey to Novant Health and your journey into healthcare? Dr. David Priest  01:01Yeah, absolutely. So, I am an infectious diseases physician., I practice clinically in the greater Winston-Salem market. Back as early as high school thought I had some interest in going into medicine. And my first desire was actually to become a pediatrician. And I think I did that just because in high school, if you told girls that you were going to become a pediatrician, they all said, “Aww, isn’t that sweet?” And great, right? That's, that's the very noble calling I had into medicine was probably just getting dates in high school. But thankfully, I got through what can be a difficult pre-medical time and all of that just kind of stayed on the train. And the funny thing is I went into adult infectious diseases, which is almost the opposite end of pediatrics. But I was really interested actually in oncology for a time. And Leukemia was actually the, the thing that I did a lot of in training and enjoyed caring for those with leukemia, but I got interested in the infections again. And then I got really interested in caring for those with HIV AIDS. And that's who I still love to care for. And they do so well now and that's very, very rewarding. So, I ended up over in the infectious disease world. I was in private practice for a time in Charlotte. So, I've had the privilege of being on, on the medical staff in several hospitals within the Novant Health system, which has really helped me in my current role. And then as an infectious disease physician, I started doing some system work in infection prevention and antimicrobial stewardship. And then that led to my current role as the Chief Safety and Quality Officer. Carmen Canales  02:43Wonderful! Well, that's fascinating. So, the past couple of years certainly have been really interesting for all of us, especially people in frontline roles and in leadership roles. And I would say that you have to have a little bit of both there. Will you tell us about your leadership style? And your approach to leadership in general? How has it changed throughout the pandemic, if at all? Dr. David Priest  03:06Yeah, what a great question. So I think it has changed. In a lot of ways, I've told people that I was in this role of just for about a year when the pandemic hit. And so, I think in many ways, the pandemic accelerated my leadership journey. And in other ways it hampered it, right? Because there were things that I just didn't have time to grow into or learn about. And so, you know, in some ways, people knew who I was now, and it just happened to be that with a pandemic hit, the Chief Safety and Quality Officer was an infectious disease doctor. And that worked out for me and I hopefully for the organization, but then there were things that I thought I just didn't get to and probably stunted my leadership growth in some ways. Fortunately, I had a very veteran team that was in our institute that it was regulatory or clinical excellence or infection prevention, that those leaders were continuing to do what they do and do it very well. And that allowed me to kind of focus on, on a lot of things in the pandemic. So, I do think it's changed in some ways, probably all along my leadership approach is to be is to be low drama, not, don't get too high, don't get too low. I want the team to know what to expect from me day-to-day and what to emotionally expect from me. I don't want them to have to manage me or my mood, right? You hear about leaders, I say, oh, was he in a good mood today? Is he in a good mood today? Or you know how he is, you know? I didn't want I want to be like that. I want to be very consistent and approachable. I think one thing we learn from the pandemic as it pertains to leadership is just reiterating the importance of communication. You know, and when Carl and you, Carmen, and others have been leading these calls, communication is so important. I think was one of the strengths of the organization through the pandemic. Carl's call was every week and people really pulling together to do the right thing. And so I realized as a leader communication was, was super important. And very precise communication. You know, we have all we have so much in the way of communication these days, cell phones and computers and tweeting and all that stuff, and yet, it becomes very imprecise. And then you have to be very specific when you're communicating. So, I try to be specific in my communication. You know, a few other little tidbits I use as a leader, one is, I tried to give credit, where credit's due. I have this great fear of taking credit for something that I didn't do. And I want my teams to get credit for what they do. I try to overdo "thank you’ s", you know, thank people publicly…it’s a good idea, and not in a manipulative way. But when they deserve it, you got to thank them. I tell our teams, you know, try to live like you've got nothing to prove or trying to lead, like, you've got nothing to prove, you know. I think if I got hit by a bus tomorrow, I did alright. You know, and so I don't have to prove anything, or climb over anybody or climb up some ladders. If we all kind of just acted like we didn't have anything else left to prove that, would I think really kind of keep the drama low and we really move in the right direction. And the other thing that's changed in the pandemic, in terms of my leadership is I’m much more of a cheerleader than I used to be. I didn't consider myself like a sunshine pumper at all, you know. I'm like a child of the late 80s, early 90s. And like, the culture was kind of cynical and sarcastic. And I felt a little bit like that. And during the pandemic, things...people were really down, and I thought, good golly, if I'm the cheerleader, now things must be really bad. Because I don't think of myself as a positive, "We can do this!". But I have kind of become one a little bit, which I think is just the circumstances around me changed. And I realized the importance of encouraging others and to get through it. So, those are some of the lessons I've learned during the pandemic. Carmen Canales  06:50How did you do that? How did you make the move to be more of a cheerleader, if that's not your natural inclination? Dr. David Priest  06:56Yeah, you know, I think I just realized that it was what the moment called for, you know, and I thought if, if no one else, me, people are just so cynical and pessimistic. And I understand why the world we're in and the politics and the pandemic. And just so many challenges, so many people are facing at home and at work and at school and all the things they're facing, I felt like, you know, it just changed my perspective on things. I couldn't be that kind of snarky person in the corner. If I was going to lead people, I was going to have to kind of say, appeal to, hey, there's a lot of positive going on here and we can do this. And so, it was kind of a change in mindset. That wasn't my natural way of thinking about things. And I listen, I still have a sarcastic quip in my head all the time. But, I feel like people responded to it. I think they were looking; they're looking for somebody to do that and help them and say, "We can do this. I know, it's hard, we can do it." And frankly, I think it changed because I was just inspired by what people in healthcare were doing. You know, you think about those nurses in the ICU and all that, how hard they worked. And the least I can do is to be a little more positive and try to get people to move in the right direction. So, I think it was all of those things together, probably. Carmen Canales  08:08Well, you know, what a great story for other leaders to not be set in our ways, and to really have an opportunity to be nimble to employ situational leadership. So, thank you for sharing that with us.  Dr. David Priest  08:18Yeah, absolutely.  Carmen Canales  08:19So, Dr. Priest, today's theme is "thriving through change". And I'd love to hear your thoughts about how have you seen clinical teams thrive amid change? You know, especially given the past couple of years that we've had. What have they done to create momentum and to really use this as an opportunity to thrive? Dr. David Priest  08:39Yeah, and I'll say what's one of the remarkable things about Novant about many things is how the clinical teams, despite the pandemic, have really kept their eye on the ball and caring for patients in, at a time when healthcare across the country has been really, really challenged. If you look at our annual dashboards, our annual goals, you can see what they've done not only have they have survived, they have thrived and which is pretty amazing. I mean, there's just a lot of will that they do that I think as we try to speak to clinical teams about this, this work and keep them positive and moving in the right direction, despite the changes, we try to appeal to why they went into healthcare. You know, most people that went into health care did so for the right reasons. And at their core, they still want to put the patient first, even when there's chaos and challenges and things that are really, really difficult. And it's because for many of them, healthcare is not a job, it's a calling. And so, I think when ther

Featured guests:  Elizabeth Outten, senior director of external affairs, Government Relations and External Affairs team. Kristen Barnhardt, strategic relationship lead, Government Relations and External Affairs team. This episode of Inside Remarkable was edited by Gina DiPietro of Novant Health Public Relations.  Looking for more information? This resource guide, available on I-Connect, guides team members throughout elections. Election activity guide, also available on I-Connect, includes a list of do's and don'ts for nonprofits and election activity. Register to vote in North Carolina. Request a mail-in ballot, also referred to as an absentee ballot, from the North Carolina State Board of Elections. 

Local administrator access, or “local admin” for short, is a form of elevated access that gives a user more control over a device or system.  In this episode of “Within These Firewalls,” listen to learn why someone would need local admin access, why we separate it from standard accounts and how to get local admin if you need it.

In this episode of “Within These Firewalls,” listen in to hear how unapproved software on Novant Health computers could affect our security. Our host, Drew Walker, cybersecurity threat intel analyst, discusses why we only allow approved software on our computers and how to request new software for yourself. Listen in to get cyber smart.

(Part 2 of 2) We continue our discussion with Candace Williams to learn more about how BRG leadership impacted her and what her plans are for the future. Ashleigh Hargrave  00:05 Welcome to Mosaic, your Novant Health podcast for diversity, inclusion and equity. You'll learn more about the mosaic of similarities and differences that make us stronger, and how health equity benefits us all. Piece by piece. We're telling the stories of the beautiful mosaic of Novant Health.   Becky Knight  00:25 Welcome to part two of our conversation with Candace Williams, immediate past co-leader of our award winning women's business resource group at Novant Health. In part one, we focused on the work that has garnered some accolades, and on this episode, we are going to focus on how BRG leadership has impacted Candace. Candace, leading such a large BRG, even one with a strong co leader, executive sponsor and committee leaders -- It takes a lot of time and energy. With so many groups you could volunteer to serve, why did you choose to be a BRG leader?   Candace Williams  00:58 To your point, it is a growth opportunity, I saw it as that I saw. It as an opportunity to meet new people in the organization to grow my own skills. And really for the women's BRG, I've always been, I shouldn't say always, but like, as long as I can remember for many years, very personally passionate about helping people grow developing people, and it's particularly women. So the opportunity to help my colleagues to grow, to be able to identify different people to come in and to really pour into them with information and knowledge and learning to be able to plan and strategize how you know, what is this year look like? Are we focusing on mental health? Are we focusing on domestic violence and making sure that women are taking care of themselves is an international women's day and we get to collaborate with other BRG to do something fabulous and honor the contributions that women have made. It just has been, for me, it was just this opportunity to use a lot of the skills that I get to use at work, but maybe in a very different way to be able to be creative and working on our videos that we submitted with our application to be able to like I said, bring in these amazing speakers. So I just really saw it as a way to really sort of feed my passion like I care about it. It's exciting to hear people grow. It's exciting when people reach out to us and say that a speaker impacted them or something that we said impacted them. It's just amazing. So that it was it was for both my personal and professional development personally, I was fed my soul was fed as a result of it, it fed me. And then I also had an opportunity to feed others and the opportunity to learn from more amazing people because the big leader, you're able to connect with all these other amazing leaders across the organization. It's just fabulous. I mean, I really had so much it was like really hard to let go. But I think part of that is making room for someone else. Like I would have happily continued to do this for years to come. But they're amazing people who also want any that same opportunity.   Becky Knight  03:21 I would love to learn what is next for you.   Candace Williams  03:24 So outside of work, I'll say within Novant Health, I still will be very active with the BRG. I'm a member of the Women's BRG and the African American BRG still able to support the new chairs with finding speakers and just anything I can do to help them as they transition. So I'll remain active there and love that and be able to step up with African American BRG because when I took on the chair role women's BRG, I had to step back so I'm so I'm excited about continuing to support the BRGs. Outside of work, I'm very active. I'm in my last year as PTO President, my youngest son is a senior in high school. And so I've been President for probably six years and I've always been on the board of the PTO or PTA and some call it at their schools. I'm in my last year of Jack and Jill of America, which is a an organization of historically black Organization of Women, moms. And so it's really a mother organization, we support our kids and I've been active in that. And so I'm I'm able to kind of step back from that. I'm a sustainer and Junior League of Charlotte, and then recently joined, became a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, which is a historically black sorority, and we strive to be of service to all mankind. And so with that, I know I'll be able to continue to give back to the community. And one of the things that being a big leader did and I said I was passionate about women and growth and development, but it really also sort of sparked this desire in me to do more and what does it look like so capacity for you? I shared that I spoke with the local university. I've actually got two speaking engagements in queue over the next couple of months. And I'm really excited about and really hope to do more of that because I love actually enjoy public speaking and enjoy sharing things that help feed women and help us to grow. I recently had an opportunity to share on the women's BRG call for the first time because all the years it was sort of like I was always scheduling other people and thought, oh, wait, what if I shared you know and so Jill and mothering allow me to share and actually Candace Whitfield who shared with me is going to be coming back and sharing soon as well. And then I, I've started coaching, so I've got some clients that I'm coaching because really, like I said, it's like pouring into women and the BRG really helped me to kind of unlock that gift, that desire that was in me and what does it look like for me to serve and give back to other women?   Becky Knight  05:57 Well, thank you. I am very thankful just personally for what the BRG has done for me as a team member at Novant Health and also in my role as a BRG administrative coordinator. Your leadership of the women's BRG, in your partnership on so many things has really raised the level for all of our BRGs. And so I thank you for what you've done the last few years and I'm excited for what lies ahead for you. So thank you so much for joining us today. I appreciate it.   Candace Williams  06:27 Thank you, but Becky, before we go, I want to thank you too. You are an amazing support. As a BRG coordinator you are they're all extremely supportive. Novant Health didn't just come to the big game like this isn't something new. It's not a result of anything that just happened in culture. This has been going off for years, we've got amazing support all the way across the organization. It's clear that BRGs are valued at Novant Health and you're one of the reasons that we are also successful. So thank you   Ashleigh Hargrave  06:59 Thanks for listening to mosaic your podcast for diversity, inclusion and equity and Novant Health. Stay tuned for our next exciting episode.

(Part 1 of 2) Candace Williams talks about her term as co-leader of the Women Business Resource Group at Novant Health. Learn why their work was awarded the #1 spot at the national Impact Awards. Then join us for Part 2 where Candace shares how BRG leadership impacted her and how that's opening up new opportunities for her.Ashleigh Hargrave  00:05Welcome to mosaic, your Novant Health podcast for diversity, inclusion and equity. You'll learn more about the mosaic of similarities and differences that make us stronger, and how health equity benefits us all. Piece by piece, we're telling the stories of the beautiful mosaic of Novant Health. Becky Knight  00:24Hello, happy to have you with us for this episode of mosaic, where we focus on what Novant Health is doing in the areas of diversity, inclusion and equity. This episode will highlight the work of our Women's Business Resource Group or BRG at Novant Health. All of our BRGs are impactful and so so instrumental in embedding our value of diversity, inclusion and equity in every aspect of our organization. And the Women BRG is our most award winning. Their mission statement is the women BRG strives to offer a safe place for hard topics, a resource to gain tools for self-care and a place to increase skill, confidence and competence for team members in reaching their professional goals. And they have done just that. With me today is Candace Williams, who recently completed her term as Co- leader of the Women BRG, here to talk about how the BRG impacted our team members, and also how leadership impacted her personally and professionally. Candace, welcome, so glad to have you on this episode. Can you begin by telling us a bit about yourself and your role at Novant Health? Candace Williams  01:27Thanks so much, Becky. As you said, my name is Candace Williams, I serve as Director of Patient Advocacy and health humanities. What that means is I have the pleasure of supporting work across the organization that supports our patients and their loved ones. I think at Novant Health we're all advocates. And my role, I get to do things like our patient rights video in English and in Spanish to make sure our patients understand their rights, support our community voice patient family advisory councils, which is a way that we bring the voice of patients and loved ones in as we're making decisions and coming up with ways to better care for our patients. And then on the health community side, really the pleasure of the arts, bringing the arts into our facilities, partnering with other teams, like guests and volunteer services. And recently we've begun installing murals in our parking decks just to create a new environment. So it's about the patient and family member experience, and a team member experience and how can we use art to impact that? Becky Knight  02:31And Candace, you just ended a very successful term as C0-leader of the Women's BRG here at Novant Health. In 2020, the BRG placed number two at the impact Awards, which are a national recognition, and in 2021, you took the top spot -- number one! What did that moment feel like and what was running through your mind? Candace Williams  02:52Going into it, Becky, all we knew was that we were in the top 25. We didn't know where we fell in the top 25. We just knew we were there. And honestly, in 2021, I was feeling a lot of pressure. Because when you've been number two, where do you go the next year? you want number one! And so in my mind, I thought, Is it even possible could it be but this is what we want. We want to continue to improve and get better. So there was just a lot of anxiety. So as the countdown was happening, I was absolutely on pins and needles. I was actually in the car driving my youngest daughter back from college for the weekend and was listening in. And the closer we got like I'm screaming in the car, I'm making all sorts of noise in the car. And when we got to I think it was like number four, number five, and we still hadn't been called. I very wisely pulled over at a rest stop because I was kind of losing it and pulled over the rest stop. And I'm just sitting there just waiting. And when they said when they announced the number two spot, which meant we were the number one spot. I absolutely lost it. I was screaming, I was crying. My daughter was like looking at me like it was also strange. It was amazing. It was so amazing to hear that. And I think at some point during the night, I thought am I right? Like, I think we're in the top 25. But the numbers are still going down and they haven't gotten to us yet. Like it was very surreal. It was an awesome experience. Becky Knight  04:18Yes, that was very exciting. And you definitely, I recall, kind of putting out the intention of you wanted to be number one, and you would share that on calls. And so what did you do to earn the number one spot what was the work that was recognized?  Candace Williams  04:35Definitely was believing for that number one spot and we were saying it all the time as a BRG and just were really amazed when it happened. In terms of work itself, we saw an opportunity to create something for our team members frontline through supervisory roles. Now, while Novant Health has a training and personal development available, we really saw an opportunity to leverage some existing training. It was available in sort of a self-paced way and really create some accountability. And the way we did that was by selecting specific modules that we thought would help a team member who wanted to grow in their career. We also set specific timelines there were, there were timelines by which certain things had to be completed. We worked with this company to provide coaching sessions for our team members. So as an organization, Novant Health would cover team members to coaching sessions for free. And additional coaching sessions were $10 Each, we wanted to make sure that even that $10 wasn't an obstacle. So we agreed and determined that we would support any team member who needed that assistance with that $10. So that that even wouldn't be an obstacle for the team members. And so it was really amazing the feedback we received from those who participated in it, because they weren't taking advantage of what was already there. So instead of us we thought about do we want to build something from scratch, but we didn't need to completely reinvent the wheel, what we needed to do was present it in a way, like I said, that created that buy in, that created that level of accountability that encouraged people to take advantage of coaching, which is so valuable, and so many people don't understand the value of it. And so everybody who participated, agreed to a certain number of coaching sessions, a certain number of modules to work on resumes, and interviewing skills, and all those things. And so I think it really produced something wonderful. And those who participated gave wonderful feedback about it. Becky Knight  06:34That is, that is, yeah, great work, and was so thrilled that it was recognized, and I think sets the standard for what other people and other companies can do for their team members. And I like what you said about you don't necessarily have to reinvent it, but customize it. Know who, who your members are and what they need and create something that is accessible and relevant to that was so well done. And you did have a lot of other things that you did during your two years. When you look back, are there other moments that stand out as meaningful? Candace Williams  07:15Yeah, there are lots of things are a few things. One that I think about is how we work together to really build an eboard. When I first joined the women's BRG, it was really me and the other leader at the time, who was wonderful, but it was really just the two of us when I joined. And so we saw an opportunity to really create opportunities for other women, our organization to grow by being able to step up into these leadership roles. So I'm really proud of where we landed with this amazing group of women serving together to make things happen. Another thing that I'm really proud of is the speakers that we've been able to bring to our BRG. As I mentioned before, we're really focused on personal and professional development. So we've been able to look out at the year ahead, what are the things that we can do for our members, we've surveyed our members to hear what's important to them as well, and have just brought some really powerful speakers. One of the things at the end of each call that we ask them to do is to give us a call to action, what's the call to action for everyone who's participated on the call, because sometimes you can hear someone and you don't know what to do if they've said 15 things. What do you do? What's the one thing? So I'm really proud of the speakers, and that commitment to make sure all of our members leave each call with something specific that we want them to commit to being able to do. Another opportunity that serving open for me and for Candace Whitfield, who co-chaired with me until we both gave the opportunity to others, is that we've been able to actually speak at a local university to their women in graduate programs. And that's been amazing. And I know that that was a door that was open because of the BRG very proud, like I said, of the surveys being able to survey our members for what they want, what do they need? How do they feel about the things that took place throughout the year we send out a survey and after every meeting and invite feedback and we take the time to look at that and have it helped us shape the next year. And then the final thing I'll share is I had the honor of serving and representing Novant Health at the ERG and councils conference this year on a panel that talked about BRGs and was able to share with BRG leaders really across the world about what we're doing here at Novant Health and that was really awesome. Becky Knight  09:33All right, well, we will end there for now and continue our discussion on the next episode, where we will hear from Candace and how the BRG leadershi

What does the Veterans BRG do for team members, patients and the community? Find out on this episode of Mosaic when co-chair Elizabeth Lee and events committee chair, Cee Cee Thomas, invite BRG member David Cloer to share his thoughts.

On this episode we continue our conversation with members of the Novant Health Pride BRG. They discuss waht it means to be an ally and advocate for the LGBT community, including addressing health inequities.

We are kicking off Season 2 of Mosaic! Becky Knight, Business Resource Group (BRG) coordinator, talks with members of the Novant Health Pride BRG about what coming out means and why it is still relevant, even thought it has been more than 30 years since the first Coming Out Day.

Yvonne Dixon, a health director for Novant Health shares her reason for taking the Covid 19 vaccine and the historic and recent health inequities that may deter African-Americans and people of color from receiving theirs. The  Covid 19 Vaccine: A Reflection on Impact and Equity - Yvonne Dixon January 2021   Welcome to Mosaic, your Novant Health podcast for diversity, inclusion and equity. You'll learn more about the mosaic of similarities and differences that make us stronger, and how health equity benefits us all. Piece by piece, we're telling the stories of the beautiful mosaic of Novant Health.   Ashleigh Hargrave  0:28   I'm Ashleigh Hargrave. Today's episode features a leadership reflection with the spotlight on health equity. We'll hear from Yvonne Dixon, Director of health equity, as she shares her personal reflection on the COVID-19 vaccine and equity in medicine.   Yvonne Dixon  0:47   Hello, everyone, this is Yvonne Dixon, Director of health equity from the Office of diversity, inclusion and equity. really, you know, I want you to hear something, do you hear that sound in the background. it's a tick tock sound? It is  an actual clock there, I have an antique clock on the wall, and I'm sitting up under this clock. And it's called an eight day clock. This clock is about 100 years old, or I'll say is over 100 years old, it was my great grandfather's clock. So yes, it's over 100 years old, but I'm sitting under this clock, just to remind me and you of what time it is.   You know, there are times in which I am sitting in the same room with this clock. And although the tick tock is very loud. Sometimes I don't hear it.I have become so accustomed to hearing this tick tock sound, that I can be in the same room with it sometimes, and I don't hear it. I bring that up because there are times in which when we are called, we are called to do something that is so very right, we don't do what is needed because we don't hear it. We don't hear the call. Because we believe that, you know, sometimes maybe we don't need to hear that call. Or we can become immune to hearing that call  if needed for need.   Unknown Speaker  2:28   Again, confirmed cases within North Carolina is 6274. We also have a number of deaths, meaning 7328. Again, this is a call I want you to hear this call, not become immune to this call.Because the call is for all of us to really and truly highly consider taking the COVID vaccine injection.I have taken this injection. 3:07   And that was on the 22nd of December. I'll be due for my second injection on the 18th of January. And I'm looking forward to taking the second part of that vaccine. Why? No, I don't like to get stuck. But at the same time, I know that it's beneficial for me. And I'm very thankful that we have the opportunity to be able to take this vaccine. I know that there are several people, I've talked with several people that are not interested in taking this vaccine and really not having a real good reason as to why. But I do understand, especially when we're talking about previous history, especially as it relates to African Americans. You know, for black people, we have had a very bad history when it comes to how we have been treated as a relates to medicine. One of those stories relating to the Tuskegee experiment, and how so many men were not treated appropriately because of the the diagnosis of syphilis, and not given the treatment to eradicate  syphilis, only doing some of those things such as what we can hear about now kind of like that watch and wait and see what happens. But the watch and waiting for those individuals for over 40 years during the course of this experiment did not provide for great benefits. Matter of fact, death occurred. And then we think about in the past the story about Henrietta Lacks and howher body was used for science, although the outcome of that science was good,  her family was not, did not provide for approval to be able to use her body. Again, one of those inequities in science.     5:19   And as we look to the present right now, there are so many individuals that are not receiving equitable care, based upon sometimes those social determinants of healththat befall us. But at the same time, there is truth, and there is appropriate treatment for all of us. And we must speak that truth, I say to you, and to all of us to seek getting that treatment of the COVID vaccine.   5:55   Number one, I told you,  I have received the treatment and am going back to the second portion of that vaccine. Also, as an African American, and female, black female, I know that I am at that age where COVID is is really taken us out those individuals that are over 60 years old, I fall into that category, also African American, I am in that category. And I also have someone here that lives with me, my 92 year old father, who definitely has comorbidities that would if he were to obtain thevirus, that would definitely befall him as a health care provider, as a nurse entering in and out of these facilities and definitely don't want to carry anything with me. So just knowing what's been in the past as to why African Americans do not want to take it and then knowing what's current, in terms of inequities in health care, and there are,but there's no reason for you to not take care of yourself. I urge you, I contend that this vaccine is something that we all need to take. But I am mostly impressing upon my African American brothers and sisters, to please take this vaccine.     7:36   Because as you can hear in the background once again of the ticking clock.It is important for us to know what time it is.   Ashleigh Hargrave  7:46   Thank you, Yvonne for sharing your insight and personal reflections on equity and the necessity for care, especially as it relates to the COVID-19 vaccine, and all of our communities. Listeners, please contact your healthcare provider for more information as your health care provider is a valuable partner in looking after your health and helping you make decisions about your care.   8:17   Thanks for listening to mosaic your podcast for diversity, inclusion and equity at Novant Health. Stay tuned for our next exciting episode.

Becky Knight  0:00  Thank you for joining us today with me is Sonia Hart. And she's going to be with us to talk about the significance of Black History Month, really the significance of what's happened in the last year and how that's impacting the members of the Business Resource Group. And then what she sees is the future. Sonia, welcome. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself by way of introduction. Sonia Hart  0:21  Thank you Becky, for having me here. Um, my name is Sonia heart. I am in my day job, the program manager for heart failure for the Greater Charlotte market. I'm also the former chair for the African American BRG had been in that role for the last couple of years and was really excited to be able to pass that torch on to our new chairs. I have been with Novant for 21 years. So and we've seen a lot of changes throughout that time and just really excited about what the future holds. Becky Knight  0:56  Well, we are recording this in February, which is Black History Month. And I thought we'd begin with a reflection from you on a historical figure or maybe someone that is personally meaningful to you, someone that you think of this month and the contributions that they've made to Black history and American history. Sonia Hart  1:14  I think for me right now, the person that comes to mind is Cicely Tyson. And with her recent passing, just really learning about her life, and she had lived for 96 years. So she had a very full life. Also reading her book right now, which is very interesting. And just to kind of see the parallels of the things that she went through to get where she was as this world renowned actress, um, she's very introverted, very thoughtful. So she really reminds me of myself in a lot of ways as far as really being thoughtful about what's the next step or what's the next plan, and always having a purpose in mind. So I think for me, that's who comes to mind for me as a historical figure. Becky Knight  2:03  So you are a part of this modern history. So this last summer 2020, and really the whole year 2020 is one that will go down in the history books as being quite memorable for several reasons, both for the COVID-19 pandemic, and also the racial and social unrest following the killing of George Floyd. And I wondered if you had any thoughts on what it was like to be a part of the the leadership of the BRG, which is over 600 members strong, and what that was like to be a part of this time in history and to lead folks during such an upheaval and such a time filled with so many emotions. Sonia Hart  2:48  I think for me, personally, what I saw the BRG do was two things, it was a safe space, for those people of color, to really kind of just, you know, get together to talk about the issues that were at hand, especially with the pandemic and having to social distance. And then with the social unrest with George Floyd and, you know, trying to still remain professional at work, we're still having these feelings of how do I cope with this as an individual, and we did some really great sessions during the summer to really kind of bring home the point of it is okay to have the feelings that you have, and to make sure that they have outlets to be able to express their feelings and to know that they had support in the BRG and I thought we did a really good job of facilitating that and providing that safe space for them. Becky Knight  3:49  As someone who's been here, you said 21 years? How do you see or do you see a change in how maybe Novant Health would have responded 20 years ago to how it responded now? Have you seen a change in how we're able to talk about race and racism? Sonia Hart  4:06  I will honestly say I really applaud Carl Amato and his efforts as well as the executive team for the insight that they have on things and really taking a stand when it may not be the most popular at the time. We're always taught as young people that two things that you don't discuss in the workplace is your salary, and politics, or racism, or any of those types, untouchable subjects and I really think this past year in particular, that those subjects have now come to the forefront and it's important to have those discussions and share those feelings and have people be able to voice their concerns or their opinion respectful way, but to know that they everybody is not going to be the same or everybody is not going to agree and it's okay to be disagreeable, but just to always be respectful and I think call and the executive team did a really good job of showing that with their leadership. Becky Knight  5:08  How do you see the African American BRG as a place for understanding both the past, and also what's going on in the present? Sonia Hart  5:17  I will say to that question, Becky, that I do feel like we still have a ways to go with addressing the present. I think there are opportunities out there for us as BRGs to really reach across the aisle and have those courageous conversations and discussions to move race relations forward, as well as you know, developments of equity in our hiring practices, as well as just in general in day to day reactions with other employees, I think we still have, I think we've come a long way, in especially the part of being able to have conversations with a co-worker that may not look like you or may not have the same belief that you have, but I still feel as if there is still much more work to be done in that area. Becky Knight  6:12  Any last parting thoughts or words of wisdom as we close our episode? Sonia Hart  6:17  I would probably just say, in closing that I feel like Novant Health is on the cutting edge of what diversity and inclusion looks like. And I think that we have a really significant blueprint that I think other companies really want to learn from and follow. So I'm extremely proud to say that I have been a part of that for a very long time and still look forward to see what's next. Becky Knight  17:10  We're very fortunate to have you as a 20 plus veteran of Novant Health and hope you'll continue to to be with us and I know you're still involved in the Black + African American BRG as kind of a senior sage leader. And so really value that that history and that perspective that you bring as someone who's been involved for a long time, and people come in with energy and ideas. And we need those kind of elders in the group who can share their wisdom and expertise. So thank you for all that you've done for the BRG and for Novant Health as a whole. And thank you for being our guest today on Mosaic. Sonia Hart  17:46  Thank you Becky Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Ashleigh Hargrave  0:05  Welcome to Mosaic, your Novant Health podcast for diversity, inclusion and equity. You'll learn more about the mosaic of similarities and differences that make us stronger, and how health equity benefits us all. Piece by piece, we're telling the stories of the beautiful mosaic of Novant Health. Becky Knight  0:24  One critical piece of the Novant Health mosaic is our Business Resource Groups are BRG's. They are voluntary groups of team members united around a common identity and their work positively impacts our patients, our organization and the communities we serve. With me on this episode is Lauri, a Novant Health team member and BRG member here to share about her cancer journey. We are in the midst of Colorectal Cancer Awareness month, and a few weeks ago was International Women's Day where the theme was "choose to challenge" and I can't imagine a much bigger challenge to face than cancer. So Lauri, thank you so much for being here and sharing your story. Can we begin with you telling us a little bit about yourself? Lauri  1:04  Sure, thank you. My husband and I moved down here to North Carolina about three years ago as we were searching for warmer weather. I began my career at Novant Health at that time, I am also the Secretary to our Native American BRG, and I really enjoy that. We've been married for 23 years. We don't have any children, but we do have three dogs. In my spare time, I like to go golfing, camping and help rescue dogs find their forever homes. Becky Knight  1:36  Wonderful Lauri  1:38  I'm also a colon cancer survivor of almost nine years.  Becky Knight  1:42  Yeah, so tell me more about that. You know, in researching this and being Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, I just found out that colon cancer is a lot more prevalent than I expected and a lot more deadly. And it's actually, when you look at men and women combined, it's the third most diagnosed cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death. So what was that like to hear that you were diagnosed? Lauri  2:10  Yeah, I don't know that I could ever truly explain the feelings that overcome you when you get a cancer diagnosis. But I have to say first, I was shocked. I was only 42 years old. And I thought colon cancer only happened to the elderly. The only symptoms that I was having was I was having some episodes of diarrhea, which actually was unusual for me. And then I started having some abdominal pain. So at that point, I did go to my primary care doctor, she referred me to a colorectal specialist. She thought that I had irritable bowel syndrome. But in order to get that diagnosis, you have to have everything else ruled out. So that was obviously not the diagnosis that I got. So after I met with the colorectal surgeon, he did tell me that I had stage three colon cancer, and that it was nearly obstructing my bowel and that I needed surgery right away. And I honestly don't think I heard anything he said after he said that. It took me... it took a while for the initial shock to wear off. And then I was definitely scared. I wasn't sure what to expect as I embarked on this new cancer journey. It was definitely a scary time. Becky Knight  3:27  Wow. Yeah. And like you said, you think of it as something that happens, you know, to older folks, and the median age is 68 for men and 72. For women, though, the median age for onset is getting earlier and earlier. So yes, so some of the shock of not only the the diagnosis, but to feel so young and to have something so significant happen. Lauri  3:54  I have to say they have found that younger people are getting colon cancer much more than they had in the past. And there are some organizations that now recommend starting your colon cancer screening at age 45 instead of the age 50 that it's always been. Becky Knight  4:13  Yeah, and when African American Actor Chadwick Boseman. When it came out in the news that he had died last year of colon cancer. He was only 43. Did you have any reactions when you heard that news? Lauri  4:25  Yeah, when I heard the news, of course it brought back all the feelings I had when I was diagnosed. I wondered why I lived and Chadwick, who was a superhero, had to die. I thought about how strong he was as he continued to work through his multiple surgeries and chemotherapy. I also felt very sad for his family and everything that he must have had to go through during the last three years of his life. I also tried to think about anything positive and then I realized that his high profile death has definitely raised awareness of colon cancer. I hoped that with that increased awareness that would encourage others to get screened, because I cannot stress how important early screening is because the survival rate is significantly higher the earlier that you can catch colon cancer. Becky Knight  5:17  Yes, screening is so important. And I wanted to look at the data too. I mentioned earlier that colorectal cancer is the third most diagnosed cancer among men and women combined. But when we look deeper into that data, we do see there are racial disparities. You shared that you're involved with the Native American business resource group, and one of the goals of our BRG's is to work on reducing health disparities. So looking at the data on Native Americans, they are more likely to get diagnosed with colorectal cancer. Their diagnosis occurs later in the progression of their cancer, and they experience higher colorectal cancer death rates compared to the US as a whole. And while the incidence rates are declining for white Americans, they remain unchanged for indigenous populations. So it's vital that we recognize the disparities and work to close the gaps because everyone needs and deserves access to lifesaving screenings, and treatments. And speaking of treatment, you mentioned how Chadwick worked during the last few years as he was battling cancer. I imagine he must have had people close to him, supporting him through such a difficult and demanding time. What was treatment like for you? Did you have a lot of support during your treatments? Lauri  6:32  So my journey began, of course, when I got the colon cancer diagnosis, and then I started with I needed to have a colon resection where they removed the tumor and they also removed about 12 inches of my large intestine. Unfortunately, on the fourth day after surgery, I developed fevers and the pain became unbearable. So I had a CT scan, which showed that I had an ns an osanastomosis leak, which is a leak where they had reconnected the two ends of my colon during the previous surgery. So I had to go back to surgery. They also had to create a temporary ileostomy so that the surgical repair would have time to heal. Even though I had been a nurse for 20 years, I have to say learning to manage my own ileostomy bag was more than I ever imagined. I just would have never thought that I would ever have to do that for myself. The progress through the remainder of my hospital stay was slow, but I was finally able to leave the hospital after 18 days. The normal time in the hospital after the surgery is maybe five or six days. So I have to say while I was in the hospital, it was probably the first time I thought I might not survive this. I went home after my hospital stay and I recuperated from surgeries and worked on regaining my strength. And then about a month later I started my chemotherapy regimen which was supposed to be about six months, I would go in for chemotherapy every two weeks, and each dose would take about five or six hours to deliver. And then I would go home with another chemotherapy medication that would infuse over the next two days, my family was instrumental. Somebody always either one of my family or friends always drove me to chemo and stayed there the entire time with me while it was infusing, I had a lot of help. They would offer to drop off food, take me to chemo or just do whatever I needed. So at one point, I did end up having to shave my head because my hair was thinning. And this was a very difficult time for me as I adjusted to my new image of a 42 year old bald woman with an ileostomy bag. But finally after eight months, I completed my chemotherapy and I had a follow up CT scan that showed that I was cancer free. Becky Knight  8:59  What a challenging time in your life. How does that affect you now when you look back, you know hearing news of someone else who's been diagnosed or just having gone through this challenge does it affect how you live today? Lauri  9:11  I realized how important life is and my new motto is dream as if you'll live forever and live as if you'll die today. I've tried to spend more time with family and friends because you never know what the future holds. And if you'll get a chance to do those things that you put off until tomorrow. I like to openly tell my story because colon cancer can be very difficult to talk about and I just always am interested in encouraging everyone to get screened because it is so important. Becky Knight  9:41  With the pandemic, like so many things people, are not getting screened. And the numbers have plummeted. So what would you say to someone who is in the the age bracket or family history where they should be getting screened, but they're hesitant or they just don't want to think about it and they avoid it. Lauri  10:03  I challenge everyone to not be afraid to speak up if you experience any of the signs of colon cancer, such as changing bowel habits, blood in your stool, abdominal pain, unexplained weight loss to name a few. Routine screening is so important because in the early stages of colon cancer, there may not be symptoms. And if you can identify polyps at that early stage, they can be removed before they even turn into cancer. I would say, don't be afraid to get a colonoscopy. The endoscopy centers they use moderate sedation or anesthesia, so you'll not have any discomfort during the procedure. You may not ev

Ashleigh Hargrave  00:05Welcome to Mosaic, your Novant Health podcast for diversity, inclusion and equity. You'll learn more about the mosaic of similarities and differences that make us stronger, and how health equity benefits us all. Piece by piece, we're telling the stories of the beautiful mosaic of Novant Health. Becky Knight  00:24This is Becky Knight and I have the privilege of working with Novant Health BRGs. Business Resource Groups or BRG's play a critical role in our goal to embed diversity, inclusion and equity throughout the organization. BRGs are groups of team members gathered around a dimension of diversity. They're a forum for the exchange of ideas, experiences, and perspectives. BRGs help us better understand ourselves and each other, and they help us keep our Novant Health promise to relentlessly pursue remarkable care every day, so patients get the compassionate, expert and personal experience they deserve. On a previous episode, I spoke with the founder of our newest BRG Rebound, whose vision is to create an open and supportive environment to raise awareness of mental health and substance abuse diagnoses. On this episode, we'll hear from a member of the Rebound BRG about how the group has supported her and her thoughts on reducing stigma in the workplace. We'll also hear from a member of our Women Physicians BRG to get a clinical perspective on mental health. Tanya, thank you so much for joining me for this episode. Can you tell me a bit about your role as a transporter in our organization? 01:40I am responsible for taking patients to procedures and taking patients up to the roof when they've been admitted. And I have a lot of interaction with patients. So I really enjoy just speaking with patients and helping them to get their mind off of things and just being there to support them in a unique role. Becky Knight  02:06Can you tell me a bit about the BRG you're involved in? 02:10Well, in New Hanover, we have a BRG that is focused on mental health awareness. It's called Rebound. And we are just trying to create a safe space for people to speak about what they may or may not be going through, what their family members may or may not be going through, just for them to be able to get help without being stigmatized by common misconceptions surrounding mental health. Becky Knight  02:55Would you mind sharing with me why you wanted to join the rebound Business Resource Group? 03:01I actually had a experience lately where I had to go in for a reactions with the medication and that reaction induced anxiety. Just that stigma of being afraid of going in for an issue that might coexist with anxiety. That is is the stigma that we're trying to combat. Becky Knight  03:35I spoke with Sarah Arthur in a previous episode, and she mentioned that in starting the BRG at first people were reluctant. And that's understandable, especially for a mental health group in the workplace. But that didn't stop you. Why not? 03:50I just have a great interest in helping people understand these issues and helping people understand that it's a medical issue, that there's a chemical imbalance in brain like we've all heard about. But we don't really know what to do with that information. That's just a sad thing, because it doesn't create that safe space that people should be able to feel when they go to a hospital for help. Becky Knight  04:18Yeah, definitely hospitals should be a safe space for sure. And I just appreciate what the BRG is doing because I think it's a good thing to be conscious of, for one thing, the words that we use to describe people and how even if we're talking, you know, among co workers, you think, well the patient can't hear you -- but your coworker hears you, your coworker hears what you're saying, and that might make them think twice about if you're a safe person or not for them to talk to. 04:48Everybody needs help sometimes whether that help is just talking to a friend or family member or a colleague or if they need to come in and get help from a doctor, you know, that's okay. And we're trying to create an environment where people feel safe to do that. Becky Knight  05:08Thank you, Tanya. I appreciate your dedication to your transporter role, and for helping our patients feel more at ease as you navigate them around the hospital. And I also appreciate your willingness to work towards educating all of us on how to be more compassionate with each other. At this point, I'd like to welcome Dr. Michelle Constantino to the discussion. She is a licensed clinical psychologist with Bariatric Solutions. She helps patients prepare for weight loss surgery, as well as help them live well after surgery. She's also a member of our Women Physicians Business Resource Group. Michelle, welcome. And thank you for being a part of this episode, I wanted to start with your thoughts on how the pandemic is affecting mental health. Michelle Constantino  05:55Yeah, I think it's been a huge change for people. I think people were isolated. And that was hard, especially people who lived alone. And then, I guess there's just different layers to it, because then there was people who are trying to also homeschool children and work full time jobs. So there was that stressor for people.  Becky Knight  06:16Yeah. And you've likely seen the reports by McKinsey, the Brookings Institution and others about how the pandemic has disproportionately affected women, especially women of color. So obviously, this is affecting our our team members, and they are feeling the impact at work and at home. A report from the Kaiser Family Foundation for women under 30, in particular found that 69% feel that the pandemic has harmed their mental health. So this is affecting our team members in their clinics in the hospitals and our corporate offices. It's something we need to address. And so if we're concerned about a family member or friend, coworker, or ourselves, What are the signs that the issue is more than just the normal day to day blues and blahs? When do we need to seek help? Michelle Constantino  07:07I think anything chronic so you know, we all have our days where we might just want to be left alone and might not pick up our phone or want to do something social. So that's, you know, normal, like I just want to kind of relax and you know, turn off from the outside world. But when that becomes a consistent pattern, so when you see someone doing that days on end, maybe coming home from work, and just isolating in their room, not picking up their phone, or missing work, you know, days of not showing up or not performing well. And, you know, your appetite changes, you can be more or less hungry for days. It's usually I mean depression, you see it, they say it's typically about two weeks. And that's when you want you want to know that something's going on. What else changes, um, you might sleep more, you might sleep less you you your sleep cycle can get disrupted, you might wake up really early or have middle the night awakening. So those are lots of signs and symptoms. Becky Knight  08:11So considering that mental health has long been difficult to access for many people, What tips do you have for how to access the help that you need? 08:24A couple ways to reach out for help are I mean, you can always just, you know, talk to a friend. At Novant, you can go through your employee assistance program. If you work for the hospital, you can see a therapist for free. You can also just call your insurance company, like call the number on the back of the card and they will tell you providers that accept your insurance. There is a website also psychologytoday.com. I love this website. When I've had a therapist in the past, it's honestly how I have found my therapist. You can go type in your zip code, you can check box, your insurance company and whatever you want to work on. Or you don't have to check any of those things. But you can see if you're working on depression, anxiety, just like life adjustments, relationship issues. And then it will populate profiles with pictures. And so you can read people's profiles see their picture and kind of get a feel for who might be a match for you. And then you can just email them or call them. And usually most therapists will give you like a free like consult. And so you can see if they're a good fit. And that's like the number one most important thing is to have a good rapport and a good relationship with your therapist. If you connection, you're probably not going to want to keep talking to them. So interview people . Interview and find a good connection. Becky Knight  09:46Do you have any tips for maybe for those of us who are working in healthcare, why it's so important to not stigmatize mental health and also for those who want to, you know, seek help, how to not let that be a barrier to them. It's okay to talk to somebody, it's okay. And it doesn't mean that somebody even has a diagnosis. And even if they do have a diagnosis, that's okay too. But don't make assumptions about anybody, like, you don't know what's going on in their personal lives. Like, they could have lost a family member during COVID. And they're supposed to sit there and dealt with that on their own like, it's okay, if they need to go talk to a therapist. A lot of mental health diagnoses are inherited. So there's a high percentage of you getting a disease from your family line. And when that happens, there's nothing you can do to change that, chemically speaking, right? You get your.. we all get what we get. And so what you can do is get support. And that looks like the right medication management. And I always say to my patients who come in and they're opening up for the first time I tell them, if you have asthma, you would use your inhaler to breathe, right? If you have diabetes, you take your insulin, so your sugar levels are where they need to be right? And so literally what mental health is hormonal imbalances in your brain. And so medication literally helps bring your hormones to where they need to be. There's a feedback loop bet

00:05 Welcome to Mosaic, your Novant Health podcast for diversity, inclusion and equity. You'll learn more about the mosaic of similarities and differences that make us stronger, and how health equity benefits us all. Piece by piece, we're telling the stories of the beautiful mosaic of Novant Health.   00:25 Hi, this is Becky Knight BRG administrative coordinator, and on a previous podcast I talked with Sarah Arthur about the creation of the Rebound Business Resource Group. This new BRG provides an open and supportive environment to raise awareness of mental health and substance use diagnoses. On this episode, we will hear more about addressing stigma and what Rebound has planned for the future. And I'll wrap up with some easy to access resources if you or someone you know needs assistance.   00:56 Courage is one of our values. And I'm encouraged to learn more about how people are taking advantage of this resource for themselves and their families, and by extension our community. Is there a general stigma about mental health and substance use and even more so in certain communities? I was wondering what have you observed? And how is the BRG addressing stigma and making these conversations..   01:23 So we want to make every employee feel comfortable. Now a lot of times people rely on their friends and family and peers for support. And that's okay. But when you hear that one of them has also utilized a formal counseling service or a physician or a certain medication, you're more willing to try it yourself and actually utilize that help. I think that when you see someone like yourself as well, you don't feel as alone and isolated when it comes to certain feelings that you may be having. And it often helps if you can have a friend tell you, Hey, I noticed that you're acting a little differently. And that's why we also promote through this group knowing ways in which to bring about the subject of mental health. We share you know with throughout our system, the five ways to bring up mental health. We share things like Mental Health First Aid training, just to give people the tools because it's an uncomfortable subject. You don't want to trigger someone, you don't want to bring up a conversation that then you don't know what to do about it if someone is really in crisis, and you don't want to be the result of anyone's downfall either.   03:21 So to wrap up, I'd love to know a little bit about your plans for this coming year. What's on the horizon?   03:30 Yes, we had a really big focus last month on Mental Health Awareness Month, we had a lot of testimonials from people within the group, to again, try and break down that stigma and encourage more people to join rebound. The group, we have several different components that we're working on when it comes to education, reducing stigma, and then looking at our different policies and procedures within the hospital system. So one thing in particular, when it comes to policies, we noticed several employees within the group had been on medications from their physician, but through our policy, because it's considered a controlled substance. They didn't necessarily know that they needed to report that to employee health. And then in other instances, it came about where you know, a leader may have just heard that they were on this medication, and then had a perception of how it made the person act or maybe what diagnosis went along with it. Again, making the person feel like they had done something wrong for taking something that they were prescribed. So we're going to work with employee health and how we can educate new employees that are coming in, as well as current employees to make people feel like they can take their needed medication. Oftentimes, people may not do it because they want to keep their job, which isn't good for their mental health. So that's one thing. And then when it comes to education, we're continuing to promote mental health first aid training throughout our organization, specifically for leaders so that they feel like they have the tools to help their employees. And we're working with HR on the companion support team or compassion support team. So you have a peer that can support you in a crisis.   05:36 If this conversation has sparked in you a desire to reach out for help, I did want to close with some resources. First Novant Health has a behavioral health call center. It is operated 24/7/365 and staffed by masters level therapists who can assist individuals and family members in navigating the world of treatment for substance use and mental health issues. We're going to give that number is 1-800-718-3550 and it's available to all team members, providers, patients, community members, to everyone.   06:27 You can also contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, a branch of the US Department of Health and Human Services. Their national hotline is 1-800-6TO-HELP or 1-800-662-4357. And they do have a free confidential referral Information Service and it's available in English and Spanish. Finally, I just want to say thank you to Sarah for being with me and sharing about this important BRG and the work that they're doing and I know is going to just be so impactful in the year to come as we all try to get well and on the road to recovery. Thank you, Sara.   07:22 Join us next time where I'll have with me a member of the Rebound BRG to share with me about how the group has supported her and how she's working to decrease stigma in the organization and among her fellow team members. And I'll also be joined by a physician from the women physicians BRG, which we have at Novant Health. And she's going to give a clinical perspective and some additional resources for team members and for those in the community who may need assistance. Thank you so much. Join us next time.   08:04 Thanks for listening to Mosaic, your podcast for diversity, inclusion and equity and Novant Health. Stay tuned for our next exciting episode.

00:05 Welcome to Mosaic, your Novant Health podcast for diversity, inclusion and equity. You'll learn more about the mosaic of similarities and differences that make us stronger, and how health equity benefits us all. Piece by piece, we're telling the stories of the beautiful mosaic of Novant Health.   00:24 Welcome, this is Becky Knight and I have the privilege of working with Novant Health BRGs. Business Resource Groups (or BRGs) play a critical role in our goal to embed diversity, inclusion and equity throughout the organization. BRG's are groups of team members gathered around a dimension of diversity. We currently have 14 groups, a few of which include pride for LGBT team members and allies, veterans, Latino/Hispanic and coexist our interfaith BRG. The newest addition to our big lineup is rebound, whose vision is to create an open and supportive environment to raise awareness of mental health and substance abuse diagnoses. We'll hear from the founder in just a moment. But first, I wanted to share some sobering statistics. Yes, our health care workers are heroes, for sure. But first and foremost, they're very human. Health care has always been a rewarding, but demanding calling and the recent past has showed us just how demanding it can be. While others waited out the pandemic at home our frontline workers faced it head on. From June to September 2020. Mental Health America surveyed health care workers to get a feel for their mental health and wellness. They have responses from over 1100 health care workers. And the statistics are pretty sobering. 93% of healthcare workers were experiencing stress 86% reported experiencing anxiety 77 reported frustration 76 reported exhaustion and burnout, and 75%. So they were overwhelmed. Clearly, our helpers need help. To find out more about this Business Resource Group and how it is supporting team members and the community. I have with me, Sarah Arthur. Sarah, can you share about your personal and professional background a bit.   02:30 Thank you for having me. I act as the manager of community engagement here at New Hanover and previous to this job, I worked as a inpatient social worker, and a clinical social worker doing therapy with patients in the community. So I've always been really engaged and passionate about working with people that have a diagnosis of mental health or have struggled with substance use. I also have a connection with my family. Several members of my family have struggle with substance use disorder, alcoholism, opioid use disorder and bipolar disorder. So growing up as a child, you know, I truly remember several events that were pivotal to awaken me to this population and what my family was truly dealing with. One particular event my house almost caught on fire, because my cousin had taken too many opioids and was nodding off while smoking in our house. So I, you know, I struggled in the beginning as to whether I really wanted to work with people that has substance use disorder and pushed through that to find that I care about them so much, not only because they are part of my family, but because I can truly understand where they're coming from.   04:06 How did those experiences inform your decision to try to start this group?   04:12 So this BRG started because I feel that there was no voice for these employees within our system. I knew that we had patient family advisory councils for a lot of our different Institute's like our behavioral health hospital or Cancer Center. And also I knew about these BRG's that focus on different populations to give them a voice within our system and I just saw where this was truly missing.   04:48 Was there anything surprising about the process of starting the BRG?   04:53 It has taken quite a while to get people willing to join, especially leaders within our organization, because they didn't want to be treated differently for being a part of the group. But it's definitely taken off. And I've been amazed at how comfortable people feel at sharing their story and how supportive they feel about other employees that maybe have gone through an issue with employee health because of a certain medication they're on or they've been talked about by other employees because of some different behavior that they may be experiencing because of their mental health disorder. So I think that you know, the sky's the limit with this group. We named it rebound because truly those in recovery rebound higher. That's kind of our slogan for this group, just to give some hope for a lot of people, we have a lot of family members that have joined the group as well, and gotten support as they work to support their family and themselves.  06:10 Thank you, Sarah, for persevering and for getting this rebound BRG off the ground, your tenacity, and your compassion is quite evident. So thank you for sharing that story with us. And I hope you'll join me to talk on the next episode about what the BRG is doing in the future, what your plans are and how those plans will impact both our team members and our community. Thank you so much.   07:34 Thanks for listening to mosaic your podcast for diversity, inclusion and equity and Novant Health. Stay tuned for our next exciting episode.

Ashleigh Hargrave  0:05  Welcome to Mosaic, your Novant Health podcast for diversity, inclusion and equity. You'll learn more about the mosaic of similarities and differences that make us stronger, and how health equity benefits us all. Piece by piece, we're telling the stories of the beautiful mosaic of Novant Health. Welcome to this week's episode of mosaic. I'm Ashleigh Hargrave senior director of diversity, inclusion and equity. And this week, I'm delighted to have with me, a member of our foundation who's going to tell you about philanthropy, but also how do the words diversity, inclusion and equity all become Incorporated, and the way that Novant Health gives back to our community and the way that we integrate into the fiber of the communities that we serve. so delighted to have with me today, Sharon Harrington, one of the leaders in our Novant Health Foundation, Sharon Harrington, is our Novant Health Foundation's chief of staff. Sharon, welcome to the show.Sharon Harrington  1:06  Thank you, Ashleigh, I'm so happy to be here today to talk to you about some of the work that we're doing at the Novant Health Foundation.Ashleigh Hargrave  1:14  Thank you, Sharon. And so, you know, I spoke about the words diversity, inclusion and equity. What do those words mean to you from both a professional and a personal standpoint,Sharon Harrington  1:28  you know, actually diversity, equity and inclusion for me, personally and professionally, our core drivers, core values and social drivers. For me, it means that I am part of an organization and a community that allows me to bring my unique life experience to the table without judgment, without bias. And so as a mother, daughter, a wife, a woman of color, of someone who's a first generation college graduate, and in my family, I can bring that experience to the table at Novant Health and bring my authentic voice. And by working in an organization that is tolerant, and even bold and courageous and really encourages that, I think it means that we are able to support and serve members of the community that may look like me that may have a common experience. And so that's what it means to me. But in addition to it serving me as a unique individual, I get to stretch myself, because I'm still on our journey to learn individuals, and about other life experiences that may be different from mine. And so every day at Novant Health I get to take part in training conversations, Business Resource Groups, that helped me stretch myself around diversity, equity inclusion.Ashleigh Hargrave  2:57  And I think it's so powerful, what you said share it, especially about the word supporting and serving. I think when people think about philanthropy, a lot of times, of course, people automatically go to to the dollar, which is important. But I think when we also think about the word philanthropy, what it means to support an organization, what it means to support a cause, and how those dollars and that support can go into our community. So let's talk about that. Let's talk about philanthropy, for those of our listeners who may not even understand what is that word philanthropy mean? And what is and why is that even important?Sharon Harrington  3:31  It's, it's an incredible word, but I'm going to break it down. What it really means to me, is making an intentional choice to be part of the community, and to help help one's fellow neighbor. And there are many types of gifts, obviously, that are traditional gifts, I'm writing a check in and making and making a fiscal transfer to someone. But you know what, there are so many types of gifts that one could give. I look, I look back at 2020 in the pandemic, and how our team members and community members stepped up to volunteer when we put out the call to action to say, we need volunteers around this, this this community challenge. We have members who stepped up and donated 1000s of hours to the organization. That's philanthropy. Some community members wrote a check. They gave, you know, gifts large and small. That's philanthropy. I look at our team members each year who participate in giving serving together which is our system wide campaign that helps the foundation to deliver programs and initiatives at the healthcare organization helps fellow team members who may be experienced a personal hardship. And frankly, this year, we really focus on the hope Fund, which helps some of our frontline workers again, who were hurting financially because of the pandemic that's falling out. There'll be. So as you can see, or or maybe I'll add one more, maybe you're someone who helps us get out the message around our needs. You connect this to other community members. That's philanthropy. And so I hope that they're one of those four or five examples. All of us can find a way to become philanthropists.Ashleigh Hargrave  5:21  That was such a great definition, sharing and really sharing how all of us, no matter our financial state, no matter what community we live in, no matter the resources, we all have something that we can give, and something that we can give to and towards. And I think, as you said, especially during the pandemic, we all could share a story, we all had a family member, someone that we loved a team member, someone in community that we could think about, and what ways could we have served that person? And frankly, for some of us, what ways did we need to be served during that time. So appreciate you sharing about the ways that we are all able to give. And one of the ways that I think is really exciting, and especially in our work, and the work we get to do together is really the way that Novant Health has shown our commitment to inclusion in philanthropy. There's a new fund that some of our members and community have heard about, and they've already donated to which we're very, very excited for. But for those that may not know, can you talk about our imagined better campaign and that fund and who that special person is? That has been the face and the leader in that work?Sharon Harrington 6:30  Now, absolutely. Ashleigh, we are so excited to launch the imagine better campaign honoring Dr. Garmin Brown, we're starting this, this campaign will address the overarching issues of health equity, we want to advance health equity in our communities through several kind of evidence based programs that we are doing at Novant Health to really serve and customize our care in our most vulnerable communities. As you may know, in 2014, Charlotte start with Charlotte, there was a national study conducted by Harvard University, it looked at the top 50 or so metropolitan areas, and evaluated how to families navigate poverty in those communities. Unfortunately, what this what the study revealed is that we were last Charlotte was last number 50 out of 50, in terms of individuals being able to overcome poverty. And so if you're born poor in Charlotte, you're likely to that's not something you can overcome. When you know, in Charlotte, we have lots of businesses, civic leaders who stepped up, I said, that's just not enough. We want that that's not going to be the signature for Charlotte. And so Dr. Gorman Brown, led a group of business leaders to begin discussing, how do we overcome intergenerational poverty. And we looked at health outcomes, we looked at education, we looked at housing, move that workforce development and, and so with our fund, I'm going to bring us forward, we're going to continue some of that work. It's called leading opportunity, and do that work around health equity and health disparities that we know exists in our Charlotte community, but in every, every part of our footprint. And of course, we're doing it in the name of Dr. Gorman Brown, because again, we we notice she started that really good, great work. What we'll do with this fun is we're going to begin to address those social determinants of health. I know you're familiar, these are conditions under which people are born grow live work, age, they, they may be the way that their childhood development, education, economic, their physical surroundings, these are behaviors and locations locational issues that really result in health outcomes or can be negative health outcomes. And so through this farm, we're going to begin to put together some outreach strategies. We're going to start we've started with a very modest goal of $10 million. We want to raise those dollars and Charlotte, and what we'll do is with the phone is we've got about three major issues. One is access to care. So with access to care, we're going to see to expand our healthcare on wheels initiative. As you know, our bills are our community care cruisers. We want to have community care cruises in every major footprint on Novant Health footprint. We're starting in Charlotte, we're moving to Winston Salem, we're now going to have the opportunity to have a healthcare with all wheels initiative in coastal North Carolina. So we will add an expand our healthcare on wheels fleet through this campaign. In addition community health workers, cohort. community health workers are individuals who come from those most vulnerable communities, and who work in lockstep with families that are that we're finding our high emergency room utilizers. They work with those families, one health issues. But also we find that many, in many cases, families have social services needs. So that health worker is really a navigator around health services, social services, and getting those families connected to the service to overall needs that they may have. We currently have community health workers in our major markets, but we want to grow and expand that cohort of workers. In addition, we're looking at workforce development. Ashleigh, as you know, Novant Health employs 35,000 employees across the footprint that is a major, we can have a major impact around workforce development, we've created a couple programs where we take some of our CNAs Who are these are individuals that are the glue to our healthcare service, and we're approaching the our CNAs, who may have a financial burden, and we're encouraging them to become r

Tax season is upon us, and we are all in the process of filing our tax returns. Criminals know this and use this time to conduct tax scams attempting to trick you out of your personal information, or worse, your money. Scams take many shapes and forms, such as phone calls, letters and emails. Many Internal Revenue Service impersonators use threats to intimidate and bully people into paying a fabricated tax bill. That’s why it is important to be vigilant and know what to do if you are the target of one of these scams. Listen in to get cyber smart. 

Ashleigh Hargrave  00:05 Welcome to mosaic, your Novant Health podcast for diversity, inclusion and equity. You'll learn more about the mosaic of similarities and differences that make us stronger, and how health equity benefits us all. Piece by piece, we're telling the stories of the beautiful mosaic of Novant Health.   Becky Knight  00:24 Monday, Jan. 17, 2022 marked the 39th observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the US Federal holiday that celebrates the life and legacy of Dr. King. At Novant Health we follow Dr. King's vision in our commitment to do the right thing for our patients, communities and each other. In years past, we have celebrated this day together with events that honor Dr. King's many achievements. This year, as we continue through another COVID-19 surge, our recognition was a bit different. Our spiritual care team, business resource groups, and others curated a presentation of poetry, prayer, and this powerful keynote by Raki McGregor, Novant Health vice president of new business growth. We share it again in this format in hopes that it may inspire and encourage you to stand up for what is right. Quoting Dr. King, the ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.   Raki McGregor  01:27 As we talk about a new day of hope. I reflect back on Dr. Martin Luther King, and the many examples of servant leadership that he's shown us. I look back on March 17 2020. And I think about how our lives were forever changed that day. How we work, how we engage one another, how we live, where it is that we work. And I think about our frontline teams, our clinical team, and how they will yet again, put to the test and have been put to the test before that day and certainly ever since. And I know that it's a time where we have gotten weary, all of us have gotten weary. And then I reflect back on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and I say to myself, who encouraged him? What was he thinking about? Before he gave the speeches that are forever ingrained in our mind? What challenges was he facing? Through all of that effort and adversity and being thrown for a loop and the unexpected? On the journey. He continued to step to the podium. He continued to rise to the occasion. I remember a quote where he specifically was viewing or looking at health care. You may know the quote, It goes something like this. Of all the forms of inequity, injustice and health care is the most shocking and inhumane. We think about the disproportionately impacted the communities that need us the most and how they were impacted the greatest during this pandemic. Those who have pre existing conditions. Those that were what, from the older populations, those that we're here to protect, needed. And we rose to that occasion. We stepped in the gap. We encourage them we encourage each other. We encourage their family during times of unprecedented pandemic and change. I think back on how we're actually living, the embodiment of Dr. Martin Luther King's vision as it pertains to health care. I think back on when he was assassinated, April 4 1968. And the challenge and the shock and the uncertainty that we all felt yet the seeds that he had sown outlived him. The dreams that he spoke about, had not yet been seen. but because of his advocacy, because of this life, because when he was uncertain, he still stepped to the podium. And he used his gifts and talents to encourage us to bring forth a new day of hope. So as we think through that, we should only hope that we can be as fortunate, as Dr. Martin Luther King, that our dreams outlive us so that our children and our children's children can reap the benefit of what we are all building, and healthcare. So it's not just what you do. But Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. also showed us it's important how you do it. It's the value system that we leverage to do it. It's compassion, ensuring that our families, our patients, they know that we're here to give them kindness, empathy, and respect. That from a diversity and inclusion standpoint, we recognize that all voices should have an opportunity to be heard.   Personal excellence bringing your best self to work. That has been a difficult task for us to do every day, during this pandemic journey. I would imagine, it was a difficult task for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. But yet, he rose to the podium. And yet we have team members day in and day out that rise to the occasion that teamwork is necessary for us to make the impact on the commitment of our vision and our mission. What is our mission is simple. Our mission is to improve the health of our communities, one person at a time, our community, the underserved communities. That is our mission. And how do we do that? By being courageous, by standing up for what's right, by being present. And above all, doing it in a safe manner and ensuring that we first do no harm. And so I am thankful I am elated to be here to celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King's legacy. And I want us all to keep fighting for solution and a new day of hope. Let's continue his legacy. Through all of us. Thank you   Ashleigh Hargrave  08:21 Thanks for listening to mosaic your podcast for diversity, inclusion and equity and Novant Health. Stay tuned for our next exciting episode.

In this episode of "Within These Firewalls," listen in to hear how a common password used by several team members could have affected our systems. Our host, Drew Walker, cybersecurity threat intel analyst, covers the importance of choosing a unique passphrase and the easy methods you can use to create one. Listen in and get cybersmart. 

In this episode of "Within These Firewalls," we chat with Jim about the importance of reporting suspicious cybersecurity issues. Hear how the things our team members share with the cybersecurity team help us secure our environment and how you can report suspicious events. Listen in and get cybersmart.